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War Zone In Ferguson: How Billions In Military Weapons Ended Up In The Hands Of Local Police

Ferguson, Mo., is one of many American cities that has received battle gear from the federal government. The program was started to counter drug activity but critics say it encourages police officers to adopt a “warrior mentality.”

The highly militarized police response to the protests in Ferguson has been widely observed — and widely criticized. Writing for Business Insider,former Marine Paul Szoldra catalogued the military weaponry on display in Ferguson, then observed that “this is not a war zone […]. This is a city outside of St. Louis where people on both sides are angry.” Journalist Glenn Greenwald wrote Thursday that the events in Ferguson are “the destructive by-product of several decades of deliberate militarization of American policing.” And soldiers have begun to draw startling comparisons between their own armaments and those of the police.

On the left, police in Ferguson patrol the streets during unrest this week. On the right, U.S. soldiers wait to leave for an offensive against the Taliban in 2009. MANPREET ROMANA/AFP / Getty Images / / AP Photo/Jeff Roberson

The Ferguson police participated in the 1033 program.

Michelle McCaskill, a spokeswoman for the Defense Logistics Agency, told USA Today earlier this week the Ferguson Police Department had participated in the 1033 program. Most recently, police in the St. Louis suburb received two vehicles, a trailer, and a generator in November from the Department of Defense.

On the left, a police officer holds his gun in Ferguson on Wednesday. On the right, a U.S. Marine is shown on patrol in East Timor in 2012. REUTERS/Lirio Da / / REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

Other St. Louis area police agencies have participated as well, though a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Public Safety told Newsweek the heavy black vehicle seen in numerous photos near scenes of violence did not come from the program.

On the left, police in Ferguson walk through a neighborhood on Aug. 11. On the right, U.S. and Afghan troops patrol a village in Kandahar province in 2011. AP Photo/Jeff Roberson // ROMEO GACAD/AFP / Getty Images

The study — conducted by the American Civil Liberties Union and released in June — paints a dire picture of militarized policing in the United States. It argues that militarization encourages police officers to adopt a “warrior mentality,” then chronicles numerous cases in which SWAT depolyments have killed and injured innocent bystanders. The study further found that “there is almost no oversight of SWAT at the state or local level.” Federal oversight also is lacking, the report adds.

The report echoes some of the concerns raised last year in the Wall Street Journal by Radley Balko, author of Rise of the Warrior Cop. Balko also noted that SWAT teams in smaller cities have proliferated. Last year the Associated Press also reported on the lack of restraint in the military giveaway program.

On the left, a police officer aims a rifle during protests in Ferguson on Wednesday. On the right, a U.S. Army soldier aims a rifle while on patrol in Afghanistan in 2012. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni // AFP PHOTO/ Munir uz ZAMAN

The growing militarization of police forces may “doom community policing,” according to the Department of Justice.

In a report from 2013, the Justice Department raised concerns about SWAT teams, as well as other military-style uniforms and training. The report decries the “us versus them” mentality that these developments have created in American police forces.

Observers of the chaos in Ferguson this week seemed to agree. Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday in a statement that the Department of Justice would offer assistance so local police didn’t have to rely “on unnecessarily extreme displays of force.” He also expressed concern over “the deployment of military equipment and vehicles.”

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul went even further, responding to Ferguson in Time by saying that police militarization makes it “almost impossible for many Americans not to feel like their government is targeting them.”

On the left, police disperse crowds in the St. Louis suburb this week. On the right, U.S. soldiers respond after a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2011. MASSOUD HOSSAINI/AFP / Getty Images / / AP Photo/Jeff Roberson